Project Runway, Sept. 23 – The Eyes Have It

The models come in for their fitting, and not everybody has something for them to try on. Andy has his model try on a skullpiece. Michael is making a maroon gown. Mondo is having problems with his bodice. Specifically, it’s too big for his model, so he has to either fix it or make a new one. Neither prospect pleases him.

On the second day of the challenge, Tim comes in to deliver the news: They have to make a ready-to-wear look that compliments their couture piece. They have 15 minutes to sketch and 15 minutes to shop at Mood. Worse, they don’t get any extra time in which to make their second outfit.

After their shopping trip, some of the designers talk about what they’d do with the prize money. April says she’d pay off her student loans and buy a miniature pony. Gretchen would pay off her credit cards.

Tim comes in to make more rounds. He finds a distraught Valerie, who is crushed, because she’s feeling that she’s wasted a day and a half on her silk dress. She doesn’t find Tim’s advice at all helpful and flees to the bathroom in tears. Ivy and Gretchen follow.

Ivy finds Valerie’s attitude worrying. Valerie gets back to work after having cried herself out. When Tim sends in all sixteen models for their fittings, Ivy discovers that one of them is bigger than she’d expected, which means she is going to have to fix her ready-to-wear piece. Worse, she hasn’t even finished her couture look. The guys all conclude that Valerie will be sent home, given her emotional state.

On the runway, the guest judge is Naeem Khan, a fashion designer who has made frocks for people like Michelle Obama.

April is up first and sends down… what else? Two black dresses, of course. The high-fashion version has long sleeves, and the ready-to-wear dress is sleeveless and decorated with some kind of fringe.

Mondo’s high-fashion piece should be a disaster– and it isn’t. Mondo made a sleeveless gown that combined several kinds of stripes. His bodice is made of magenta and black stripes and black and white plaid on a black background. His skirt has panels of aqua and black stripes and magenta and black stripes down the sides, with yellow and black stripes in the back. It sounds horrific – and it somehow isn’t. His ready-to-wear piece is a sleeveless minidress with angled horizontal black and white stripes.

Ivy borrowed a leaf from April’s book and made two blue dresses, both with the same odd, asymmetrical neckline. And when I say blue, I do mean blue. As in royal blue. The high-fashion piece is a two-toned gown with royal blue strands of tulle draped across the front and down the skirt. I think Ivy was trying to simulate waves with this, but I don’t think it worked. The ready-to-wear piece is a royal blue minidress with a similar draping effect.

Michael’s favorite color is apparently maroon, as he used that for both pieces. The high-fashion piece is a sleeveless gown with a very long train. The ready-to-wear piece is a sleeveless minidress. Michael added bits to both looks that emphasize the hips.

Christopher’s high-fashion look is a gauzy, two-toned gown. It has a beige skirt and a white top that includes wads of fabric wound about the model’s waist. His ready-to-wear piece is a two-toned white dress with an ivory panel down the front.